


on the line where blue meets blue

by whimsicality



Category: Captain America (Movies), Criminal Minds (US TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Also for real i will ship Penelope/Morgan until i die, F/M, Fluff, I do not care, Romance, They're Just Adorable, do not ask me about timelines or canon status or team makeup for either fandom, it's just for this fic, meet adorable, not really - Freeform, so any meeting is too by default, so take the platonic soulmates line with a bucket of salt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 09:05:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15554313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whimsicality/pseuds/whimsicality
Summary: It's some random meet and greet that a higher up dreamed up. Cooperation between law enforcement divisions: Penelope thinks it sounds like the kind of thing with too many name tags and not enough booze. But then it turns out someone thinks theAvengersqualify as law enforcement, and a beautiful relationship flowers.





	on the line where blue meets blue

**Author's Note:**

> I am THRILLED that I was not the first ship in this tag because I totally thought I would be and now I need to go see what else is out there.  
> \--UPDATE. I lied. Or rather, AO3 lied to me. There are no other Penelope/Steve fics. Please let this inspire you to write some.

It's some random meet and greet that a higher up dreamed up and somehow got authorization for. Cooperation between law enforcement divisions: it sounds like the kind of thing with too many name tags and not enough booze and Penelope is very sad that a late meeting prevented her from pre-gaming the shit out of it with Emily, who is a social situations ninja and could do this with her eyes closed and a half a bottle of vodka in her.

But then it turns out someone thought the _Avengers_ qualify as law enforcement, and suddenly Steve Rogers, no name tag required, is being introduced around. Penelope almost chokes on her champagne, and exchanges a frantic and awed look with JJ.

Whoever made this coup happen deserves a promotion. Penelope is so sending a fruit basket. Or one of those really expensive bouquets of carved up fruit dipped in chocolate. She bets she can find an Avenger themed one.

"The others, uh, they don't always play well with others," Steve confides, explaining why he's alone to the BAU, who he seems to find some kind of kinship with. Penelope had expected, at most, a handshake, and has stolen no less than three more flutes of champagne since it became clear that _Captain America_ wanted to linger in their corner of the room and talk to them like he was a real person and everything. 

Hotch nods, as if talking to Captain America about the behavioral dynamics of the team of superheroes who regularly save the world is a daily occurrence. Reid looks mostly unaffected, but Morgan's pretense of the same indifference is blatantly false and his eyes are a little too wide.

Rossi keeps telling stories about his nana and how she knows someone who knows someone who is cousins with that Barnes guy and Steve nods as if interested, perfectly polite, but he keeps _looking_ at her, at Penelope, eyes too blue and cheeks a little pink, and Garcia doesn't know what to do with that.

Emily distracts Rossi with a question about wine and Steve shuffles over to Garcia to ask her what she does, smile warm enough to drown in. Penelope is pretty sure she's talking at speeds not even a superhuman can keep up with but he keeps smiling and asking questions and his eyes are bright and interested and she isn't actually sure she hasn't had a whole bottle of champagne because it sure feels like she's intoxicated.

And then it _keeps happening_.

Steve drops by the BAU the next day, ostensibly to learn more about what they do as part of his ongoing education on modern operations, but somehow he spends half his time in Garcia's tech cave, asking more questions, about her job, about _her_ , and that feeling of intoxication lingers.

She can't help remembering Battle. The last beautiful man with a chiseled jawline and heroic aura who paid her this much attention. 

But this is _Captain America_ , and she knows he's not a creep or a psychopath, and he looks at her like he's in awe sometimes, like Morgan, but with none of the platonic soulmates thing.

It’s _terrifying_.

Garcia knows she's amazing, knows she's brilliant and gorgeous and a fucking spectacular special snowflake, but, that doesn't mean she's not a plus-sized woman in a world that hates anyone over a size 6 and wants them to hate themselves too.

And this is the man unironically called the hottest human being of the century by at least a half dozen publications, and he looks happy and surprised when she flirts back, like he was expecting to be ignored or shot down.

What is she even supposed to do with that?

Morgan is flustered and frustrated by turns, intense fanboying conflicting with innate protective urges. Even Hotch's composure has slipped a few times. JJ blushed like a schoolgirl when Steve came by with baked goods for the team, and flowers for Penelope, and passed off her autograph request as being for her son.

Only Emily and Reid take it completely in stride, Emily more interested in hearing about the Black Widow (Garcia thinks they met once, back in Emily's spy days,) and Reid's only interest in superheroes is in Tony Stark and Bruce Banner's brains.

But Steve. He's kind to them all, genuine and engaged, remembering details and ignoring any awkwardness. But she's the one he's there to see.

He takes her to dinners and baseball games (and since when has she _ever_ cared about baseball or anything remotely resembling physical exertion?) They do movies at her place and he listens to her rhapsodize about fandoms and fan culture and her favorite franchises for hours, asking so many questions and so clearly happy to hear about her passions, curious and fascinated. She dares to show him her favorite cosplay outfit and the picture he draws for her, _of_ her, leads to their first makeout session, hot and heavy on her couch, until she has to stop because she can't breathe from his lips or her happiness.

The first time he asks if he can draw her nude is the first time she breaks, freaking out on Emily's couch while Emily's cat prowls around yowling and Emily and JJ ply her with wine and reassurances. 

"This isn't happening, right? Like I got shot again and I'm in a hospital and this is my morphine hallucination." She stares at them, intense. "Do not ever wake me up."

JJ snorts and Emily grins and pats her on the hand. "I promise. Morphine hallucinations are never this nice. They're usually worse than whatever put you in there. This is real and he is real and _he_ is damn lucky to have you, brilliant tech goddess, as his muse."

"Right. Yes. Goddess Penelope. He's the lucky one." She repeats to herself, still too rattled for the words to have their usual verve but feeling a little more steady. She has the best excuse in the world to use the oldest pickup line in the book on Captain Fucking America and damn if she's not going to use it.

"You first," she tells him, when he comes back over the next night, all full of concern at having overstepped. His blue eyes widen in surprise and then he laughs, warm and dazzling. He kisses her, swift and sharp, and then his smile goes more than a little mischievous as Penelope is gifted with a strip tease that is definitely better than anyone's hallucination could ever dream of achieving.

"Art later," she says, pushing him toward the bedroom, shedding clothes as fast as she can, and he doesn't argue, just laughs again and then kisses her, everywhere, with the same kind of sweet intensity he's handled everything between them. He tells her she's gorgeous, amazing, endearing whispers that get filthier than anyone would believe of a national icon.

JJ gets dreamy eyed when Garcia reports back, and even Emily has some dilation of the pupils as they imagine the scene. 

It's ridiculous, implausible, utterly romantic, unreality beyond even the fanfic she wrote at sixteen she will _never ever_ show anyone in which she was Willow's best nerd friend and Buffy and Angel were both in love with her. 

It’s not all kisses and flowers, but, even there, in the dark and pain that makes up so much of her life, he’s there. He understands when she talks about the monsters, about the survivors, and the ones they couldn’t save. He knows all about the inability to stop helping, even when it costs so much. And there isn’t a nightmare in the world that can’t be made better by waking up to a hug from Steve Rogers.

It feels less real and more real when their families finally meet. A bunch of wary cats masquerading as humans. She knows there's intimidation with her team, some hero worship, some intense suspicion because they've all seen too much to believe in heroes and the Avengers are walking talking bundles of neuroses her team couldn't miss if they tried. Aforementioned superheroes are also well aware of what her team does and are about as thrilled as anyone is when they find out their new in-laws are therapists.

Thor and Reid break the ice. Thor is fascinated by Reid’s magic tricks, and Reid has endless questions about interstellar travel and Asgardian culture, and once that conversation’s been started, everyone else figures they’d better also interact. Bruce, Clint, and Rossi make dinner, bickering and friendly. Emily and Natasha engage in a quiet conversation that’s half body language and 100% more full of lethal secrets than Penelope wants to know. Hotch is talking to Tony, more quiet than she expected from the billionaire, but based on the snippets she’s hearing and the subtle eye widening in Hotch, she has a feeling their budget’s about to get an upgrade.

Pepper Potts and JJ are drinking wine and smiling and Penelope wonders if it’s possible for that much competence to exist in one small space without adverse effects on the space-time continuum. She’ll ask Reid later.

“Is this working?” she asks Steve, leaning into his side and muttering too quietly for anyone but him to overhear. 

He laughs, soft, and drops a kiss on the top of her elaborate curls. “I think so. No one’s screaming yet. Or bleeding.”

She gives him a look. “I think that’s more of a your team thing. Bleeding.”

He looks back, eyebrow cocked with silent sarcasm he rarely gets enough credit for in his public persona. She gives in with a sigh. “Yeah, okay, it’s happened a few times.”

He laughs and kisses her and Penelope leans into it with a grin. 

She’s going to send Gretchen another fruit basket. Maybe just a weekly delivery. She’s earned it.


End file.
